Adobe Takes Yesterday’s News from Netflix

Is it possible to have a #PRSwingAndAMiss?

Last week, Netflix put the entire human resources industry on its newly streamed derrière when it offered all of its employees to take unlimited maternity or paternity leave during the first year after their child’s birth or adoption.

Out of nowhere, the video company decided that would be a great way to dominate an entire news cycle. It worked so well that other businesses got together to show off how much they loved their own employees.

Enter Microsoft into the parental fray.

The software giant’s announcement came only days after Netflix in announcing that it would increase fully paid maternity leave from eight to 20 weeks, adding two more weeks of leave before the end of a pregnancy “to manage the physical impact that often comes with late pregnancy and to prepare for the upcoming birth.”

Now that the dust has settled, Adobe decided to PDF its way into the news with…wait for it…more pregnancy leave.

Question for the PR team of Adobe (or whatever agency is repping them): Why?!

Your employees have always been your intellectual property and your future, but they just now deserve 26 weeks of maternity leave? Netflix did it, and it was news. Microsoft did it, and it was not breaking but still a good story. Your company did it, and it’s already yesterday’s news.

If we were Abobe employees, we might be thinking, “The company that has invented so much technology can’t come up with a novel way to show its love.”

Why now? We know the answer.

This isn’t a #PRFail because it is still a great move, but it’s funny that the company took its cue from Netflix, because the whole thing smacked of a re-run: this was great the first time, but you’ll need to give us a reason to binge-watch it again.